Change isn't always the best thing
by rikufool
Summary: Harry, Hermione and Draco are all working in a law firm and so have all given up their powers, or have they. Harry is working for Draco's heart, but Draco is working for Hermione's, who will win the battle. Minor amount of slash HarryDraco
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

_"Don't you walk away from me Malfoy, who the hell do you think you are anyway? You come here thinking you are everything, well I've got news for you, you mean nothing, you have nothing, you are nothing. Don't ever forget that."_

The moon cast a beam of light across the mediocre apartment, filled to the ceiling with unpacked cardboard boxes; a mattress was carelessly thrown across the chipped wood flooring, the paint peeling off the old fading walls. The night had been quiet for the most part, a few cars had passed, a police car or two sounding their sirens as they passed the front of the dingy block of apartments in the centre of good ol' London. Leaning against the cracked wall beneath the dusty windows, was a young man with distinctly messy blonde hair planted atop a pale skinned face. He sat with his face pressed against the wall as he breathed in and out; clouds of air escaped his lips and could be seen in the cold night air. An open book lying on his lap and a pair of reading glasses hanging about the end of his nose.

The misfortune that had been bestowed on this twenty three year old was too much to speak of. His family had left him behind at the age of sixteen, any time with them before that could have hardly been called quality family time, he lived as though he had no parents at all, they hadn't been there anyway. His father had been sent to prison, his mother fled without a word. He belonged to a group of people named Death Eaters and they had warned him away, for if he continued to fail, the Dark Lord Voldermort would surely destroy him. He had long since finished at the fabled school of witchcraft and wizardry, Hogwarts. His friends had left him the moment school had ended; it seemed that they were only by his side because of his heritage. The once muggle despising blonde had been forced to live amongst them, he soon found that his discrimination against them had been very much wrong. They were more than similar to the wizarding race, aside from the obvious that they bore no magical powers, but neither did Draco it seemed. He had given up his wizarding ways to lead a normal life. It was the only way he wouldn't be tracked down and have to face his initial demise.

A loud snore was emitted from him and he was quickly awoken by the sounds of screaming down below. His eyes snapped open and he peered around the room, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. He groaned in complaint of the sudden awakening. He placed a hand to his forehead, yawned widely and stretched his arms out above him. He looked across to the little fastly ticking clock that had been neatly placed by the side of the randomly placed mattress.

"3 am, oh crap I'm late"

He stood up quickly and sprinted about the small room in search of clean clothes; he rushed through a clean up and pulled on his clothes whilst brushing his teeth at the same time. At least he was moderately abled at multi-tasking. He slammed the door shut behind him and fiddled around with the many keys that were in his pocket. _Come on, I'm late goddamnit._ After putting in atleast six different keys he eventually came to the right one and locked the front door. He turned to be greeted by a half dressed, middle aged, balding man, very repulsive indeed. Clutching his tie attempting to put his keys back in his pocket and tie his tie at the same time, he halted in his tracks and gulped.

"Mr. Jenson... I'm sorry the rent is late but I don't get my pay until next week and I... Mr. Jenson?"

The man had been sleep walking again, or so it seemed. A slight grunt and he was moving again, a frown remained on Draco's face until an eventual smile played on his lips, along with a slight snicker. He saw the man turn the corner to walk down a less than quiet corridor; he would surely be woken as abruptly as Draco had. He wouldn't remain to see if his theory was indeed true. He stumbled slightly down the oddly cut staircase and reached the front gate and ran out quickly. He ran for about fifteen minutes before he reached the doorway to the place where he was currently working. He turned the corner towards his office and pulled out his time card and punched in. He sighed in relief and leaned against the wall of his miniscule office and grabbed the teetering pile of papers that was placed messily on his desk. He walked out of the room towards the copying room and was walking quite quickly, too quickly. He turned yet another corner and slammed into an unsuspecting person. Papers flew in the air and he fell sharply to the ground, cushioned to a certain extent by the person he had walked into. He groaned in pain and lifted his head up to peer down, he gasped as he was greeted by emerald eyes leering up at him.

"Harry… sorry."

He mumbled before he eventually lifted himself up off of the much more matured, great Harry Potter. How odd it was that he should be working alongside two of the people that he had been enemies with once. Harry Potter, the boy who lived, after the war had ended and Voldermort had finally been defeated, Harry had decided that he would no longer take on the role of famous boy wizard, he would make his own way in the world, and had done so with great ease it seemed. The other, Hermione Granger, the current object of Draco's affection, not that she would ever know, or ever see him as anything other than the ferret that made her school days a living hell.

"What are you doing here so early?"

Harry gave Draco yet another of his intense stares, the kind that made his knees go weak; it was true Draco batted for both sides, as it were. But there was no denying that he held Hermione in a higher regard than he did Harry. Draco often played around with Harry, but there wasn't any affection involved, it was meaningless fun.

"I'm just trying to sort out the Walker case, I know there is something here that will get him behind bars, I just have to find it."

He sighed and bent down to gather the fallen papers, but as he did so, Harry swooped in with great speed to push Draco against the wall. His hands resting against the plastered wall either side of the blonde's head.

"You didn't return my calls… are you avoiding me my little ferret?"

His breath tickled Draco's neck, causing his spine to shiver and driving his body wild. Staring into those intense emerald eyes that were currently filled with anger and lust, Draco's heart began to race.

"I…I've just been busy… please Harry I have to finish this or I'll lose my job"

Harry's suggestive stare lingered for what seemed like an eternity, before eventually his features softened and he gave Draco a playful grin. He pushed off the wall and blew Draco a kiss before he walked away leaving Draco completely melted inside. What had he gotten himself into? It was getting worse, now Harry was trying it on at work, what was he supposed to do. Draco always felt so powerless around the raven haired boy it was almost unbearable. Sighing heavily Draco picked up his paperwork and gently sauntered off to do his work.

"How dare you. How dare you walk in here and think you can command me as if you are my superior."

"I've got news for you Granger, I AM"

"Just because Rachel appointed you as the head of the department, that does not mean that I have to listen to you, if you haven't noticed I'm your partner, and if I don't want to go through with your sordid little plan, which by the way has so many faults I don't even know where to begin to point out how idiotic it is. I will not help you put this through to the board because it is not just. That man never once committed a crime and I sincerely doubt he did this, the evidence to support him is overwhelming so don't you dare try and turn this case around to suit your 'abilities' if they can be so called."

He took a deep breath before slumping into his chair. Raising his hand to massage his temples, he gently removed his glasses. It had been a long day of debate after debate after debate. He couldn't catch a break. Every time he came close to proving that his client was guilty, he was shot down by the opposing council's evidence. It was beginning to take a toll on his nerves. Draco Malfoy, esteemed lawyer, well known throughout the muggle world as the most renowned of his profession and yet he didn't feel he could live up to the stand he had been placed on. His partner, also well known, but for a different matter, Hermione Granger, world's biggest know it all. She could get to Draco easily, no matter what he said, she always had an answer. It wasn't fair that he had to put up with her, the only reason he ever backed down to her was the fact that he had become a changed man; he was no longer the cold, heartless Malfoy he used to be. He was calm and quite innocent, most of the time.

Hermione leaned across the desk, Draco peering at her with those loving eyes. Hermione was well aware of Draco's affection, although he did not know of her knowledge of his romantic feelings for her. She gloried in the fact that the once evil, vindictive, all-mighty Draco Lucius Malfoy, had fallen for a muggle born, one whom he had despised for so long. But he rarely showed an ounce of care for her anymore, the case they were both working on was tearing them apart. They never could have been called friends, but they atleast shared the role of acquaintances. It would take a long time for them to ever work up to friends, at the rate they were going.

"Listen Hermione, I don't want to fight anymore, I just want this case over and done with, if he is guilty, which I think he is, then he will get his comeuppance alright. Just leave the files with me and I'll try to sort out what you were talking about, and don't worry I won't be tweaking any of the facts alright, I couldn't anyway, you know them all off by heart."

He strained a little chuckle at this and she gave a sigh of surrender. Although she wasn't too fond of the blonde haired male, she could always agree on his legal knowledge, however twisted it could be on occasion.

"Fine. Oh and don't forget Harry wants us to meet him at Kato's tonight, don't be late"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

He still had no luck in finding any evidence; Draco was just about ready to pack it all in. If he couldn't prove his case worthy, then what would be the point of him being a lawyer anymore? It was unfair, there had to be something and yet he was drawing up blanks, every time he came close to a point, it all slipped away from him just as easily. It was getting late, if he didn't finish soon he would be late to his meeting with Hermione and Harry and he hated to be late. He pinched at the bridge of his nose and picked his glasses up off his desk.

"Not as easy as you thought it would be Draco"

That nagging voice in the back of his mind seemed to be revived once again. It was about time he came to terms with the fact that he wasn't going to win this little battle he had set out for himself. He sat staring at the teetering pile of files that sat on the chipped, wooden desk in front of him. How on earth was he supposed to show up in court without adequate evidence? This was possibly the hardest thing he had ever had to do. He never thought that being a muggle lawyer was particularly easy, but he never expected it to be quite so difficult. He needed a break. He took a deep shaky breath before exhaling in an 'I can't be bothered anymore' sort of manner. He pushed his chair back along the worn wooden flooring, which emitted a painful screeching sound. Wincing slightly at the noise he huffed heavily and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and loosened the tie around his neck. He raised his arm and pulled back the cuff of his shirt to peer at his watch.

"7:30? Already! Granger's going to kill me"

Starting at a run. Draco pushed the door to his office open as it slammed into the wall; he mentally attacked himself for making so much noise, especially as he was already in trouble for destroying property within the work place. Calm though Draco may have become, on certain occasions when he would stand his ground, he would become slightly violent. Slightly being an understatement. He had in fact got into an argument with one of his previous partners, another disagreement over a case file. Well the gist of it was, that Draco had punched the wall with an almighty force that was unbeknownst to him, he had never realised that such an amount of strength could have ever belonged to him. He had been issued with a warning. He had often thought back to that time and pondered about the things that had run through his temperamental mind.

Rushing out of the building, he bumped into several people on the way down, all giving him similar disgruntled reactions. He raced around corners, running at full pelt down stretches of concrete pavements. Until he eventually reached his block of apartments. He leaned against the wall whilst staring down at the ground, a feeble attempt at trying to catch his breath. He stood in that position for a few minutes before he finally straightened himself up and pulled out the many keys in his jacket pocket, dropping many of them on the floor about him.

"Ah I don't have time for this." He fumbled around on the floor attempting to pick up all of his keys. Muttering profanities under his breath.

"Need some help?" A gentle yet husky voice spoke in an almost whisper down his left ear. Draco peered up slightly to be greeted by those amazingly green eyes once again.

"H...Harry…. I thought you were at the restaurant, I was just about to go and meet you th… what are you doing?"

Harry had, by this point, already backed Draco against the wall by the door of his apartments, filling Draco with that all too familiar twinging feeling in his stomach. Somehow, Harry always had the ability to make Draco feel uncomfortable and yet wanted at the same time.

"I know, but I thought we needed a little pre-encounter first. I realised that I hadn't had the pleasure of seeing your new home yet."

His stare intensified, piercing Draco's own line of vision. Draco was steadily attempting to push Harry away, but to no avail. Harry had become very strong over the years, which put Draco at a large disadvantage. Biting down hard on his own lip, Draco could feel himself growing hot in the cheeks. He gulped. Harry pulled away, not soon enough it seemed, on Draco's part atleast. The blonde exhaled painfully, releasing the breath which he had held inside him at Harry's sudden actions.

"I would love nothing more than to take a gander at your room"

A devilish smirk rising to Harry's lips and a suggestive stare emanating from the raven haired male, made Draco that much more uncomfortable. Gulping once again, he pulled away from the wall, trying to get the right key out of his pocket.

"Maybe some other time okay, Hermione will kill us both if we're late. You know what she's like" Atleast the dinner with the three of them was a keen excuse to get him out of this troublesome of predicaments. He thought to himself.

"Yes, that's very true, but she can wait"

"I don't fancy our chances Harry. She'd bite our heads off the second we got there, if we made her wait"

Harry sighed in defeat. Finally, Draco had managed to convince the other male of their situation. The only problem was, how was Draco supposed to get out of the next situation? He had to go up to his apartment to get changed, hopefully after what he had said, Harry wouldn't have the impulse to do anything if he invited him up. After all, Draco couldn't very well make Harry wait for him.

"I need to get changed first. You can wait in my apartment while I do if you like"

That sounded so suggestive it was unbelievable, maybe Harry wouldn't take him up on it. Luckily he didn't seem to catch on to what Draco had. Harry nodded in agreement and so they both walked through the doorway, Harry first, of course. Ascending the misshapen stairs to his humble abode, Draco caught sight of his landlord having yet another argument with the lodgers of number 22A. He stifled a laugh, he didn't want to alert Mr. Jenson to his presence, after all he still owed him a month's rent, which he didn't have yet. They finally reached the door to his apartment. Small though it was, it was considerably convenient, close to his job and not too far from town. He placed the key into the door and turned it, pushing open the fairly old door, an ungodly squeak sounded, the hinges were in desperate need of a good oiling. They had entered the room, Harry looked around in wonderment.

"So this is where the great Draco Malfoy lives then. Interesting"

Draco blushed immensely. True it wasn't much to look at now, but he had only just moved in, everything was still packed up in boxes, apart from the essentials.

"Just, seat yourself anywhere, I won't be long"

Harry nodded in agreement, but instead of sitting quietly like Draco had hoped, he decided he would take this time to snoop around and look through Draco's drawers. Not much in them really, just a few pens and some paper. A disappointment on Harry's part, he was hoping to find something out of the ordinary, but alas nothing really seemed to be that interesting. He backed away from the drawers to look up at the ceiling, and before he knew it, he had walked straight into one of the loosely closed packing boxes and had knocked it over, with a slight thud. Panicking, Harry did what he felt he should and began to gather up the many things that were scattered about the creaky flooring. He seemed to have picked up everything, all apart from a face down photograph that lay a little way from him. He picked it up and peered at the photo within the frame. He was awe struck, the three people within the frame looked all too familiar. They were glaring up at him, sending shivers down his spine. It was Lucius, Narcissa and a very young Draco.

"We never really had a happy moment together"

Harry spun around rapidly. He hadn't heard Draco enter the room, he could move very quietly. It was unnerving some times, and alluring at other times.

"You never really seemed to have anything to be happy about; I always wondered why you took everything out on people at Hogwarts. It's understandable now; you never really knew what it meant to love"

Draco's eyes were threatening to well up, but he held it back and merely put on a fake smile. He gently took the picture from Harry's hands and placed it back inside the open cardboard box and closed it once more. He stood looking at his hand on top of the box for quite some time, suddenly deep in thoughts and memories. Harry was all too aware of Draco's sudden state and felt it necessary to comfort him.

"You… you don't have to come out tonight if you don't want to. Hermione and I will understand"

"No, no I'm looking forward to a good night out. I need to relax for a bit. The case is making me go crazy. I'm in desperate need of a drink with my friends."

With that, Harry gave a gentle nod towards Draco. He was all set and ready to go and they were off to the restaurant.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Draco had often wondered what his life would be like if he had remained in the wizarding world. There were so many things that he had left undone, so many people he wanted to see again, but alas, he had lived away from magic for over six years. He was quite sure that everyone would have moved on, had better lives, and would most probably have forgotten all about the once popular Slytherin Prince. That title had diminished as soon as he left Hogwarts, it was strange, he had never really understood how utterly preposterous that nickname was, for he was anything but a prince.

He and Harry were nearing the restaurant. There had been an awkward silence the whole trip there, it was unnerving. It seemed that Harry didn't want to talk much, not without the company of Hermione atleast, he felt it unsafe grounds. Draco had been going over his past a lot recently and it put Harry in a very awkward position, because he didn't want to remember any of his sordid school days. He wanted to look to the future rather than to linger on past events. Draco slowed his pace a little as they neared the entrance to Kato's. He peered ahead, as if bewildered by something. Harry turned to stare at Draco, what on earth could have startled him so much. The blonde seemed almost frozen, his eyes wide, his face pale and his body shaking.

"Draco… are you okay?"

The raven haired male waved his hands in front of the blonde's steely grey eyes, instantly drawing Draco out of his trance, although he was still shaky. This had caused Harry to become dumbstruck, Harry turned his gaze to the spot where Draco had been staring, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. But suddenly there was a flash of long white blonde hair and a sneering face that was all too familiar. It couldn't possibly be him though, he was dead, he had died in a foolish act during the war. Harry gulped and steered Draco straight into the restaurant quickly. His breathing had become quick and uneasy. Harry leaned against the wall by the door. Both were shocked beyond belief.

"That can't have been him… it can't have been…" Draco had begun mumbling inanely to himself.

"…He died, I know he did, I saw his death with my own eyes, I watched him fall… it must have just been someone that looked like him, I'm sure of it… Draco, just forget about it, come on we have to meet Hermione"

Draco stood still, staring at the wall opposite him, he shook his head violently, he knew Harry was more than likely correct. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he may not be right, it might have been him, his father, Lucius Malfoy. He gulped and nodded slightly towards Harry, for now he would forget he'd seen anything, and just enjoy the evening.

The evening had been a success; they had spent every second laughing with each other, sharing stories, and finally keeping the peace. Hermione being the only sober one out of the three decided that it was her duty to hold the two up as she walked them both home. She reached Draco's home first, as it was the nearest.

Dragging him slightly to his doorway and begging Harry to help. Harry wasn't exactly a good drunk, he tended to wander off in his own little world, noting every little insignificant thing, he had made it a slight habit on the way back to point out to Hermione that she had brown hair; he pulled a goofy face then was off trying to pull Draco to the ground with him. It was taking Hermione, all of her sanity to take them this far, there was no way that she was in a willing mood at all to take Harry all the way back to Godric's Hollow, not when he was on the verge of passing out. She sighed and asked the preoccupied Draco if Harry could spend the night, all she received was a grunt; she took that as a yes and aided the two in the climb up to Draco's apartment.

"Draco… Draco, look at me please, just listen for a second, we are almost there, I just need your keys, do you have them?"

He nodded slightly and pulled out the bundle of keys. Hermione sighed heavily and began trying each key, it was lucky for her that the third one she tried was the right one, she pushed the door opened and a slight smile crept onto her lips. _So this is where you live, huh, nice, I guess._ She ushered the two into the room and pointed to the mattress on the floor.

"I guess you two are just going to have to share tonight"

She watched as they both fell to the floor and crawled along the creaky floorboards to the temporary excuse for a bed. Draco had arrived to it first and spread himself across it, falling to sleep instantly, Harry flopped on top of the blonde, a faint 'oof' sounded from Malfoy's lips, drawing a little chuckle from Hermione. As she glanced at the two sprawled out she couldn't help but smile, they looked so funny, and yet so angelic and innocent, it was heart warming. Closing the door behind her, she pulled out her wand, which she had hidden quite well in her jacket pocket. Muttering a spell, she heard a click and the door was locked. She hadn't found the need to use magic in a long time, it felt good to do it again, but she would not do it unless absolutely necessary.

The hours ticked away and it was soon Saturday morning once again. A loud bang awoke Draco with a start, his head shot up, looking around, he felt a sudden shot of pain run through his head. Groaning, he raised his hand to grip his forehead. _Merlin, how drunk was I last night_. He sighed deeply and felt a shift in movement beside him; something had just wrapped its arms around him. His gaze darted down to the slumbering body next to him. _Harry… why is he here?_ That question was soon to be answered as those brilliantly green eyes were now gazing up at him, a faint smile crossing the raven haired male's lips.

"Good morning Draco"

Draco's heart caught in his throat. He attempted to pull himself out of Harry's grip, but to no avail. It seemed that Harry was not so keen to give up the warmth of the blonde male that he adored so much. Instead he pulled Malfoy closer and buried his face into Draco's chest, grinning all the more at the gasp that escaped the other male's lips.

"H...Harry…"

"I've wanted to do this for so long, now I finally get the chance to lie next to you, don't take this away from me so soon, please Draco, let me stay next to you for a little while longer"

He bit down onto his lip hard, how could he possibly resist a request that had been so sweetly worded. He couldn't deny the comforts of the other male for long, he merely lay himself back beside Harry once more and couldn't help but wrap his arms around the slender waist of that emerald eyed wonder. He smiled softly, gazing into those eyes for all of two minutes before dropping off into a deep slumber, the soft breathing of Harry, lulling him to sleep with ease.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Work seemed to become a lot harder for Draco; he just couldn't seem to concentrate on much recently. His mind was often more preoccupied with wickedly delicious thoughts of a certain emerald eyed male named Harry. It was strange and yet very interesting, he had wanted to be with Hermione for so long and yet he had never felt as though he could do anything about it, with Harry he seemed to have that much more freedom. He knew for a fact that Harry wanted to be with him and it seemed almost too apparent that Draco wanted to be with Harry and so, what was stopping him from perusing a fantastic relationship with someone that shared the passion.

Shuffling through unread papers, cast across an overflowed desk top, Draco scratched the back of his head in wonderment, it seemed a certain important document was missing, one that may well be the clue to unlocking the case and once and for all sorting out whether Mr. Taylor was guilty or not. The case was that of Mr. Taylor being accused of certain threatening acts such as ABH and even a murder of a young girl. But what was stumping the blonde lawyer was the fact that during the autopsy of the girl, they could not seem to figure out her cause of death there were no marks to suggest a gunshot, strangulation, stabbing, there wasn't even evidence of poisoning. It did occur to Draco to have Harry check up with the ministry of magic, but alas, he chose to act against this, he did not want anything to do with the world of magic again; it had brought him too many horrific memories to tell.

An intrusion on his thoughts caused by a knock at his office door caused the flustered blonde to fall backwards off his chair. Peeping around the door frame to peer in at the fallen male was Harry; he bit his lip to hold back the laughter at Draco's current situation. Coughing slightly as he strained to stifle his outburst of laughs he walked over to the disgruntled male and attempted to help him up.

"Are you alright? What were you doing on the floor?" He asked curious as to the blonde's position.

"I fell off my chair because you scared the hell out of me when you knocked on the door" Draco spoke with an all too familiar glare, speaking through gritted teeth showed just how embarrassment brings out the worst in him.

"Oh… sorry" Harry blushed with a great intensity, causing him to look distinctly like a tomato.

"What did you want anyway?"

"Oh yeah, right, I thought you might need this… I found it in Hermione's office, she told me to give it to you"

"The Taylor evidence… why did she have it, it's supposed to be for my eyes only" He snatched the folder from Harry's loose hold and flicked through the pages inside. "I don't believe it… I don't bloody believe it; she's changed the case around. I'm going to lose this case." He said with an ultimate defeated tone, falling to his knees him threw the papers across the room and held his face in his hands.

"Come on mate, it can't be that bad, it's just one case, you'll win next time"

"You don't understand, this is the case that was supposed to make or break my career. I'm going to lose my job, how am I supposed to live, no-where else will hire me after this."

Snaking a comforting arm around Draco's shoulder, Harry held the male close to him and sighed deeply resting his chin on the mess of blonde hair.

"Shh, it's ok, we'll figure something out, you don't have to worry, there's no way I'm going to let them take your job away from you, you just wait and see"


End file.
